During the past several years there has been a continuing trend toward the development of microelectronic devices having ever greater density. Scaling down device dimensions generally reduces the cost of manufacturing while increasing the device performance (e.g. speed). A number of methods are known to increase the integration density of integrated circuits. Specifically, considerable increases in integration density have been achieved by increasing photolithography resolution. Further progress has been made by using electron, X-ray and ion exposure methods instead of light radiation. However, high resolution lithography appears to be reaching a practical limit. For example, electron beam lithography is capable of producing line widths of about 10 nm to 15 nm, but generally cannot achieve higher resolution with useful resists. Although some experimentation has been done with Alkali-Halides in the sub-10 nm range, these inorganic resists are generally not suitable for pattern transfer. Organic resists, such as the high resolution resist polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), appear to have a resolution limit of about 10 nm, possibly due to the range of low energy electrons generated in the resist. Accordingly, there is a continuing need for new techniques that are capable of providing higher resolutions and smaller device geometries beyond that offered by hitherto known methods.